Abstract: U21.00012 : Elliptic Phases: A Study of the Nonlinear Elasticity of Twist-

Authors:

Christian SantangeloRandall Kamien(University of Pennsylvania)

The twist-grain boundary phase in smectic-A liquid crystals,
constructed
from rotating walls of parallel screw dislocations, is a prime
example of a
stable, ordered configuration of defects. In smectics,
nonlinearities in
the strains strongly affect the energetics and interactions
between
defects, thus complicating their analysis. By exploiting the
properties of
Jacobi elliptic functions, we construct a triply-periodic
surface
locally
composed of screw dislocations, called Schnerk's surface, which
has
the structure of a series of ninety degree twist-grain
boundaries.
This is
a candidate structure for the recently observed large-angle
twist-grain
boundary phases. Because of the analytic tractability of our
construction, we compute that the grain boundaries interact
exponentially at long distances through both the compression and
bending energies, and that there is a preferred grain boundary
spacing.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2006.MAR.U21.12